Navya's fully self-driving taxi looks straight out of Robocop

Navya, the French company behind the all-electric, self-driving ARMA shuttle buses on the streets in Las Vegas, Michigan, and Singapore, has a brand-new ride for cities looking to create fleets of driverless taxicabs.

The company just unveiled its latest electric autonomous vehicle, the Autonum Cab, at a private company event in Paris. Navya's calling the car the "world's first taxi robot," a title that competitors with public pilot programs on the road like Waymo, Uber, and Cruise would probably be quick to dispute — but the new cab certainly looks more like something straight out of a sci-fi movie than any of the other self-driving cars currently on the road.

There is a major difference between the Autonom Cab and other self-driving cars beyond just the exterior. Navya's new vehicle has no traditional implements for control at all, so there's no cockpit, steering wheel, brakes, or mirrors.

The Cab is decked out in sensors instead, rocking 10 LiDAR units, six cameras, four radar, and an on-board computer system instead, which totally control the vehicle without any human intervention. Navya touts its own mapping tool, which also plays a role in the vehicle's operation.

Navya says that the Cab's interior can fit up to six passengers without the standard steering features, and it can reach speeds of up to 55 mph. Since the vehicle is meant for mostly urban use, however, it'll likely be capped at around 35 mph to conform to city speed limits.

The Cab is all-electric, like Navya's other vehicles, but the company didn't share any details about its battery size or any estimates of its range per charge. That's not a huge deal since the vehicle is meant for fleet deployment, not private use like a Tesla Model 3.

Navya says it has a series of partnership agreements already in place with transport authorities that could put the Autonom Cabs on city streets sooner than later, and it plans to announce more at CES in January. One of those partners, Keolis, just played a part in launching a year-long pilot program in Las Vegas using Navya vehicles.

The Autonom Cab looks impressive, but until we actually see the car picking up passengers in rush hour, it's just another ambitious self-driving concept. Navya does have a strong track record of actually testing out its tech IRL — so this is definitely a company to look out for at this year's CES.

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